Panasonic launches 65″ OLED TV with 4K HDR

Panasonic is ready to launch its first OLED TV named 65CZ950. The 65” OLED TV will offer 4K, HDR (high dynamic range), and advanced picture processing.Panasonic’s 65-inch curved OLED TV will be available next month as the company’s new flagship TV with “stunning picture quality tuned and approved by a leading Hollywood colourist”.

OLED is a new display technology that relies on small organic light diodes that can reproduce pure black and beautiful colors; in Panasonic’s TV close (90%) to the DCI P3 color gamut. The first large-size OLED TVs were launched by Samsung and LG a few years ago, but Samsung later pulled out of the market. OLED is notoriously hard and costly to manufacture, but offers amazing picture quality.

Panasonic is not afraid to compare its first OLED TV to its now-discontinued plasma TVs, saying that it for the first time can deliver “Absolute Black”.

– “In fact, OLED screens can achieve even deeper blacks than Panasonic’s legendary plasma TVs, while also avoiding the picture noise associated with plasma technology,” says Panasonic.

The TV has been designed with inspiration from high-end furniture. Panasonic thinks that it has created its “most attractive TV ever”. The super-thin TV is mounted on an aluminium pedestal and the backcover “is upholstered with Alcantara” to make it look appealing from all angles.

OLED can deliver amazing picture quality, but combining it with 4K resolution and HDR will set new standards, believes Panasonic. The TV complies with CEA’s new “HDR Compatible Display” initiative.

HDR is an end-to-end picture quality improvement that starts in the camera and makes it all the way to the display. HDR can bring picture to life with deeper blacks, brighter whites and more details in each end. Just like LG, Panasonic calls OLED a perfect partner for HDR.

Panasonic 65CZ950 is equipped with a 4K Studio Master Processor that takes care of picture processing. Panasonic says that its Hollywood studio and renowned colorist Mike Sowa, who has worked on movies such as Oblivion and Insurgent, have been involved in optimizing the picture quality. The TV has also been certified by THX, making it the first 4K OLED TV to be so.

– “My world of visual storytelling is based around color accuracy and the need for a display that compliments the creative vision. Panasonic has engineered their newest 4K Pro OLED TV to a standard that I would only expect in professional displays,” says Mike Sowa.

Panasonic’s 65” OLED TX-65CZ950 will launch this October. Pricing details have not been announced